


The First and the Last

by xserenity



Series: JayDick Week 2017 [4]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Underage - Freeform, happens for part of the story, innocent relationship, then they get aged up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-03
Updated: 2017-10-03
Packaged: 2019-01-08 12:16:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12254217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xserenity/pseuds/xserenity
Summary: The timer resting on the inside of Dick’s wrist had been counting down until the day he would meet his soulmate.He just had to wait another twenty seconds.





	The First and the Last

**Author's Note:**

> Day 2 - Soulmates AU

When Dick was old enough to decipher the strange code scribbled on the inside of his wrist, he was filled with excitement. Sapphire eyes blinked at the timer that read 11y128d13m46s in black ink, counting down to the day he would meet his soulmate.

Dick was currently six years old and he just had to wait 11 Years, 128 days, 13 minutes and 46 seconds.

\--------

When the timer on his wrist read 00y000d00m60s, he knew that he was close to meeting his destined one. Dick was eager and could feel his heart pumping, beating rapidly against his ribcage and was threatening to pop out. He had waited years for this day and while he was ecstatic, part of him couldn’t help but be slightly afraid.

He felt overly guarded and that might be in hindsight because of where he was currently at. Dick was inside the bat cave, a secured location that not anyone could just enter freely. It was Batman and Robin’s secret hideout, a cave for their daily operations, and others would have needed special permission just to get in.

So, whoever Dick was about to meet in the next 58 seconds could be anyone ranging from an intruder, a villain or just someone completely at random. Either a person Bruce brought back or someone who’d miraculously snuck into the cave and was about to get caught by Dick.

Either way, he just hoped and crossed his fingers that whoever it was wouldn’t shatter his dreams. He would be devastated if it was a criminal, considering he was a hero so that wouldn’t be a viable relationship.

Dick exhaled softly as he stared at the numbers on his wrist, watched as the seconds ticked by, counting down. It felt unbearably slow, almost like waiting for snow to fill the streets, covering it in a sheet of white, thick and high.

He swiveled around in his chair, restless as he twirled in half circles, waited anxiously for the time to come. Dick was alone in the cave, impatiently waiting for Bruce to arrive back from wherever he was, probably patrol.

Honestly, Dick didn’t even know why he came back to the manor in the first place, just that he felt like he needed to be here. There was a sensation budding in his chest, gravitating him back to his family home. Almost as if the world was telling him that he needed to be here. That this was the meeting place.

So he ended up here of all places. It’s not like he could have ignored the urge crawling within him. It made him restless and he couldn’t sit still at his apartment so he went with what his guts told him and came to the bat cave.

His timer hit 15 seconds and Dick drew in a shaky breath, felt more on edge than he’s ever felt. More so than the day he first did a quadruple flip at the circus. The meeting time was so close and he could hear sounds approaching from afar. The bats up above huddling in the ceiling of the cave were crying, screeching as the cave rumbled. Those signs were all too familiar to Dick and he knew that the bat mobile had just entered. That Bruce and whoever he had along for the ride was coming towards him and fast. And this—this was the moment he would meet his soulmate.

Dick held his breath and kept his eyes glued to his wrist, didn’t want to miss a single second if he could avoid it. Slowly, he started counting down.

_8 seconds_

The car was close and Dick could hear the engine of Bruce’s powerful beast steadily getting louder and louder.

_7 seconds_

The car screeched to a stop and parked.

_6 seconds_

The engine switched off and the eyes of the car flickered to darkness.

_5 seconds_

The doors opened and the sounds of voices could be heard, words being exchanged softly.

_4 seconds_

Boots kissed the ground, clacking loudly as it echoed within the cave.

_3 seconds_

Loud footsteps, a pair of two, were heading in Dick’s direction and volume gradually increased as they got closer.

_2 seconds_

Dick could feel his fingers tingling, a slight tremor shuddering through his body as he lifted his head.

_1 second_

His eyes met another, vibrant and lively, a mixture of blues and greens and couldn’t help but think how gorgeous those eyes were.

_0 seconds_

He was finally face to face with the one he had waited for, a young teen, probably 13 or 14 with unruly black hair and an assertive smile.

“ _So—_ “ There was a slight tilt to teen’s lips, amused and interested. “You’re my _soulmate?_ ”

And _honestly?_ Dick couldn’t have fallen harder that day for someone he’s met for the first time in his life. Knew that this was it. That this teen—this scruffy and confident teen was who he wanted to be with. And he was _so_ looking forward to the future.

But of course, he didn’t know the downside of meeting his soulmate since no one had told him. It was an unspoken rule that shouldn’t be said—a secret of the world. That it wasn’t all roses and sunshine and _boy_ , was Dick in for a surprise.

\--------

When the timer on his wrist restarted anew, Dick was confused beyond his being. Couldn’t understand why it hadn’t disappeared now that he’d met his soulmate.

It didn’t make any sense and when he asked around, no one had breathed a word to him. They all just shrugged their shoulders, said that they didn’t know the reason either. That, coming from his friends who had the exact same thing happen to them. It just—it was strange that no one seemed to know the underlying reason. It appeared to be a phenomenon that occurred when they met their soulmate.

So when Dick decided to ask Jason about his, and opened up this can of worm because it annoyed the hell out of him that he didn’t know, Jason had told him that his restarted as well.

“What does yours say?” Dick asked the teen as he pressed against his side. It was movie night at the manor and the two were cuddled on a couch, warm underneath a fluffy blanket that Alfred had brought them.

The timers on their wrist were for their personal eyes only and others couldn’t see it, not even their soulmates. It was weird that it was invisible to others, but Dick assumed that there was a reason for that. A reason that related to their counters restarting.

“65 years, 86 days, 36 minutes and 21 seconds,” Jason answered, turned his head slightly to the side to lock eyes with Dick’s. “Yours?”

Dick drew in a shaky breath, felt an ominous feeling crawl under his skin and he shivered from the cold chill. Jason’s eyes arched with concern and the teen reached a hand underneath the blankets, blindly searched for Dick’s. He twined their fingers together and squeezed it tight, comforting him. A smile tugged at Dick’s lips, amused that Jason was consoling him and he rested his head onto his shoulder. “It says 1 year, 180 days, 56 minutes and 12 seconds.”

Jason fell silent, didn’t pipe a sound or a word as he sat there apathetically. He was unmoving and that worried Dick so the man shuffled, lifted himself from Jason to look at him. The teen didn’t budge, stared off into the distance, eyes glues to the TV, almost as if he was absorbed in the movie, but he wasn’t. Blue-green eyes were wide, almost bulged out and slightly glassy.

“Jason?” Dick whispered and stroked a thumb across his cheek.

“It’s so short,” he blurted, finally out of his daze.

“Yeah,” Dick agreed, didn’t know what else to say. “Compared to yours.”

“It’s…weird,” Jason’s attention fell and Dick quickly captured his eyes, held him still so he wouldn’t turn away. Tried to assess his feelings, reading into the fine features of his facial expression. Could see the slight downturn of his lips and the way his brows were furrowed, seeming a bit flustered. “I don’t get what it means.”

“I don’t either,” Dick admitted and sighed. “I tried researching, but I got no answer.”

Jason huffed out a breath, long and heavy. “Well, whatever it is, I hope it’s not bad,” he murmured, squeezed Dick’s hand hard, and Dick could sense the desperation flowing from Jason. Tenderly, he returned the gesture with the same strength and maybe a little more.

“Yeah,” Dick mumbled and bumped his forehead to Jason’s. “Let’s hope not.” He couldn’t say for certain that he was positive that things wouldn’t turn sour. That this timer of theirs would be anything but bad. That the moment it hit zero was when a catastrophe would occur. Part of him had a bad vibe about it, but he just prayed that he was wrong, that whatever he was feeling was just a lie and everything would be fine.

Though the fact that he found no ounce of information about this was doubtful. Even worse, Bruce wouldn’t say a word about it either, just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. Dick could sense that the man was hiding something but he didn’t press for it seeing he wasn’t willing to offer up any information.

So really, his guess may not be that far off. However, whatever it was, Dick and Jason would have to work together to get past it. And he knew that if they tried, they could do it.

“At least it’s our six month anniversary.” Jason mumbled, his cheeks turning a rosy red, shy and embarrassed. And geez, the teen was too cute. A light bulb flickered in Dick’s mind, and he was shocked he hadn’t realized it until he checked his timer.

“You’re right. This calls for celebration.” Dick snickered and pecked Jason on the cheek, chaste and innocent.

“Like what?”

Dick wiggled his eyebrows in glee. “Chili dogs.”

\--------

Dick should have known that his feelings, his gut feelings would always be right. Was almost always 100% right and he cursed himself for not being more cautious. Should have been more vigilant and watched over Jason as the timer was nearing zero.

But he hadn’t, was reckless and left—God, he left Jason _alone_. And he shouldn’t have, should have stayed near him at all times, and should have noticed when the teen was acting strange. He— _fuck,_ he was so clueless, so ignorant. There were so many clues and he just couldn’t see them, was too busy fighting with Bruce, too busy with his Titans business to really take notice of the things going on with Jason, with his soulmate.

And by the time he noticed, it was too late.

The timer on his wrist had come to a complete stop as all the numbers turned to zeros.

00y000d00m00s was frozen on his skin, not a single number moved or changed. No matter how much he stared at it, it didn’t budge. But honestly, Dick could care less what it said and disregarded it. He already knew that the zeros were ominous, meant nothing good. That this timer, this _fucking stupid_ timer hadn’t been counting down to a disaster.

It was a ticking time bomb for Jason’s death.

Tears fell from his eyes like a water fall, slid down his cheeks and rolled off the edges of his chin as they dripped down onto Jason’s lifeless body. Dick cradled the body of his lover in his arms, held him close to his chest and cried.

His uniform, his Robin uniform that Dick had given to him was ripped to shreds and his body—god, his body was burnt to a crisp, his skin scorched all over. And the blood, _fuck_ , the blood was splotched throughout his body and was especially heavy at the base of his head, and Dick could tell from a glance that he’d been beaten.

That Jason had been beaten ruthlessly by the Joker and left to die in a warehouse as the place exploded, killing him instantly.

And while his soulmate was suffering in his last moments, Dick was where? Not anywhere near him. Had found out from Bruce that the teen was captured and had to race just to save him. But unfortunately, he arrived too late.

If he had just paid attention, he could have prevented it. He could have saved Jason and the teen wouldn’t have died. He could have lived if Dick was just—if he wasn’t being an ignorant fool.

Dick gently smoothed Jason’s blood stained hair out of his eyes as he pressed his body close. Touched his lips to his forehead and sobbed loudly, hadn’t realized he’d been screaming. Didn’t know until he felt his throat strain in discomfort, his voice becoming hoarse. His face was soaked with tears and his chest, _god_ , his heart ached, felt like someone had stabbed him and tried to rip him apart.

“Jason—“ he wept, lips quivering as he kissed his forehead. “Jason,” he whimpered, choked on his words and struggled to get them out. What could he even say to him now that he was dead? Now that he couldn’t hear his voice or anything for that matter.

Regret filled him, wished that he could have went back in time to do this over again. Tried harder, worked harder to see the problems that arose within Jason. Stuck near him so he wouldn’t do something so—so stupid.

Then Dick would have had a chance to save Jason.

“Dick,” a soft voice called out to him and he felt a hand at his shoulder. “ _Dick._ ” It was Bruce.

Dick said nothing and let the man linger at his side, watching him as he cried like a child.

“He’s gone,” he spoke softly, hadn’t heard him use his Bruce Wayne tone as Batman in a long time. “Jason is… _he’s gone_.”

“I-I could have—“ Dick stuttered through his tears, had trouble breathing. “Sa-saved him.”

“ _No._ You couldn’t.” Bruce said and squeezed his shoulder. “No one could.”

“But—“

“The timer does not lie.” Bruce’s tone was hard and firm, but there was a slight gentleness to his voice and Dick knew that he was also mourning. That Bruce was only trying to tell him what was true in a way that Dick would understand. That this was the reality of the world.

That the countdown, the cursed timer on their wrist was a win-loss situation. That the moment they met their soulmate, the timer would start counting down the days to their death.

And Jason had drawn the short end of the stick.

Fifteen years old was too young to die.

\--------

Dick sighed loudly as his vision fluttered to his wrists, stared at them blankly as they were empty, devoid of any numbers. He brushed a thumb along his skin, at the exact spot that once held a timer, a countdown.

It’d been a few years since Jason’s death and his timer, the one that used to be there, was gone. Had disappeared a few days after his death and a new one never came about.

Which just basically meant that Dick didn’t have a soulmate any longer because his had died and he wouldn’t be getting a new one either.

And he was kind of okay with it. He didn’t care about soulmates as he’d grown numb to it. The concept just didn’t seem to matter to him anymore because Jason was his last love and the trauma that it brought upon him was enough that he didn’t want to deal with it ever again. And the reason why no one knew made a whole lot of sense. The devastation of knowing would be harder to deal with when the time came than just having it suddenly sprung on them out of the blue. It was better to not know.

Dick would rather just stay himself, alone and live life at his fullest. Chasing his dreams and helping those who needed his help and keeping close bonds with his family and friends.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t lonely because he was at times. Especially whenever he thought about Jason and occasionally, he would cry when he’d remember the times they had together.

Their relationship was quite innocent and started out a bit platonic considering Jason himself was young. They had a bit of an age gap, about 4 years, so Dick had to take it nice and slow. They had established ground rules, rules they needed to abide by until they grew older. Because even then, they would still grow to love each other and they made a promise to that in case the other was worried. But of course, that never came fruition.

No matter what they did, Dick just enjoyed spending time with Jason and getting to know him - the things he liked and disliked. Whether it was when they were on patrol, reading books or lying around in the living room with the TV on. Or the occasional hangouts they would go on to the movies or to an event, it could be something extravagant like a concert or something simple as just eating out. It honestly didn’t matter. Anything they did together made him perfectly happy.

Dick kind of missed those days when he could just cuddle with Jason or hold his hand and talk about everything and nothing. Just the thought that he couldn’t do it anymore saddened him and it was rough having to cope with that.

Sighing softly, Dick curled his legs against his chest and wrapped an arm firmly around them as he rested his chin on his knees. Sapphire eyes stared off into the distance, gazing at the Gotham skyline as the lights glittered in the dark.

He was dressed in his Nightwing uniform, had been out on patrol and was now doing a bit of star gazing. Just wanted to get lost in thought, spend a bit of quiet time away from the manor and have a moment to himself.

Everything was nice and peaceful, that was, until someone interrupted him.

“ _Hey_ ,” an unfamiliar voice called out to him and Dick startled, jerked to his knees as he was ready to attack the intruder. But the moment his face came into view from under the shadows, Dick’s whole body crumbled to the ground.

“ _No,_ ” He whispered and clasped a hand over his mouth. “It’s not—it can’t be.” This was not real. It couldn’t be real—he had, god he had to be imaging it, hallucinating.

But he wasn’t.

The man smiled fondly and parted his lips to speak. “Yeah.” _His_ voice—it was so deep and alluring and immediately brought tears to Dick’s eyes, made him think of those times he’d imagine how he would sound if he was still alive. The stranger closed the distance between them and lowered himself to his knees so that he was at eye level with Dick. Slowly, he brought a hand to swipe away a teardrop that formed in the corner of Dick’s eyes and cupped his cheek. “It’s me.”

Dick didn’t understand how this was possible. How someone who he knew was dead could still be alive? When he had held his lifeless body in his arms, cried until his voice was no more and the tears were completely drained out of him. How could—

“Ja—” Dick murmured. “ _Jason._ ”

A soft smile graced his lips and _god_ , he looked so much like his Jason, just older and taller and fuck—if this was really him then well, he grew into a very handsome young man. “It’s me.”

“ _How?_ ” Dick choked out a sob, couldn’t believe this was happening. That this—all of this, was real.

Jason chuckled flatly and pulled his lips to a straight line. “It’s…complicated, but—“

“ _But?_ ” Dick was anxious, wanted to know how the hell he was here, so real and touching him. He felt so warm and all Dick wanted was just to embrace Jason in his arms and whatever consequences he had to deal with could come after.

“I’ll tell you later. For _now_ ,” Jason murmured as he cupped his face, leant in and captured Dick’s lips in a sweet kiss fueled with passion. “ _Fuck—_ “ he breathed and kissed him again. “I really wanted to do that.”

“Ugh, Jason—“ Dick groaned, had not expected that and was cut off again when Jason crushed their lips together once more.

“You got even more beautiful while I’ve been away,” he whispered, lips hovering closely together.

“And you grew up,” Dick had to point that out and swiftly roamed his eyes over Jason, taking in his very nicely defined features and body. “You look… _good_.”

Jason smiled softly and it reminded Dick so much of his younger self. “Yeah.” Jason brushed a strand of hair out of Dick’s eyes, flickered off the whites of his lenses so he could stare directly into them.

“Say…” He said, voice trailing off as he shyly glanced away before he settled his turquoise eyes back on Dick. “Now that I’m back, how about we start over again?”

The corner of his lips curled into a bright smile and Dick almost collapsed on himself. He never thought he’d have this chance ever again and there was no way he was going to miss out on this opportunity. Whether Jason was a ghost or not, real or not, part of his imagination or not, didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was here right now and he was very much alive.

“I would really like that.”

Jason just smiled and kissed him once more, passionate and bittersweet.


End file.
